>> we'll talk about it later. we had seven states that had no state income tax, but there are other states that are working in that direction. bobby jindal is trying to put louisiana there. the now republican governor of north carolina trying to bring down rates or perhaps eliminate them altogether. >> because they can attract business because you've got people in texas, louisiana and other states knows you can attract business and even chris christie in new jersey, he's trying to steal business out of illinois. same thing, he can give them better deals, better tax rates and a better quality of life for the residents there. more people have jobs in that state, the more revenue they pay to the state the better off the state is, they get it. >> if you want to work. if you want to sue people, you go to chicago and california. cheryl, thanks very much. coming up next, one of our voices from chicago weighs in on that city's cops, suing for overtime pay for blackberry use and a little later, bruce willis whose latest action movie is about to hit the theater coming out against gun control.

. >> new york. >> are you a cop? >> you don't look like a lawyer. ♪ [ cows moo ] [ sizzling ] more rain... [ thunder rumbles ] ♪ [ male announcer ] when the world moves... futures move first. learn futures from experienced pros with dedicated chats and daily live webinars. and trade with papermoney to test-drive the market. ♪ all on thinkorswim. from td ameritrade. all on thinkorswim. all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. rify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture.

the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

>> we have a news alert about the weather. a storm is developing that could slam the northeast in the the next couple of days. forecastses show it could dump as much as two feet of snow in some parts of new england. one storm is coming in from the north and another coming from the south and when these two collide together, the northeast can expect a huge punch. of course, just in time for the weekend. well, news developing on apple, billionaire investor david einhorn is urging apple to do more with its over 150 million dollars of cash on hand. nicole, is there any reaction in apple shares pre-market? >> apple is looking good this morning, remember, it was in the middle of january, here it is this morning looking up about

$10, david. this one is likely to be a real winner when the opening bell rings. david: nice, nice. by the way, a lot of that 150 billion dollars we don't know exactly how much is overseas. so, even if they wanted to put it to work, the big questions how they can do so without getting taxed for it so still a lot of questions, good news for apple. thank you, we'll be checking with you in a moment. back to the big story in the meantime, on the american work ethic. the chicago police sergeant claims he was pressured to answer work related e-mails when he was off the clock and then he didn't get paid for the overtime. so, now he wants it get reimbursed. his fellow officers do as well. joining us from chicago is carol roth wgn radio host, carol, what do you think about this? >> i'm completely outraged about this. people need to understand if you have a job, sometimes you go above and beyond. communication is part of the job these days and yes, it follows us home, but that is part of the deal. if you have a problem with this,

sit down with your supervisor, say this is getting excessive, but you can't do it and then go back retroactively and demand to be paid. it just goes to show that we are becoming the entitled states of america and in my opinion that's a very bad thing. david: carol, you're in chicago and this happened in chicago, this blackberry thing. chicago is surrounded by farmers, i've got to think that that super bowl commercial that focused on farmers from the old paul harvey speech from years ago, said by the time tuesday rolls around they've done 40 hours and ready to put in another 70 more. that kind of work ethic has got to resonate in chicago against this blackberry one right. >> there's a bifurcation in chicago. most of the farmers are not in the city, they're down state and they're working hard. when you come into the city you see the people, especially the government workers, there's a big bifurcation and look, illinois is in a very bad place right now.

we're the worse in terms of pensions being underfunded and our credit is the worst in the country and the fact that this particular situation comes out of chicago unfortunately is not a surprise to me. >> cheryl, i think that the country is becoming bifurcated, you know? you've got the two sides, ones that are happy with the growth in the government and the other that wants to get back to the old style. >> carol is in chicago and may know better than i, but this is bigger loss than one police officer, and it's originally filed back in 2010, about 200 officers are expected to sign on. he he's already cleared one hurdle in the case. carol, a better question for you, but i think that the union could be behind this, another way to make sure that the pay structure is, in their minds, for police officers where it needs to be. david: quickly, carol, go ahead. >> i think that that's absolutely right. the unions are losing a little bit of influence here in illinois, but still very, very strong. we have plenty of government

workers and it becomes a huge problem because we just can't afford this excessive pay. >> by the way, productivity is down 2% in the fourth quarter of last year in the united states. so, we've all got to work hard. carol, thank you very much, stay right there. we'll get back to you, hollywood a-lister bruce willis coming out against gun control and he says hollywood is not to blame for violence in america. that and the opening bell are coming next.

with fidelity's new options platform, we've completely integrated every step of the process, making it easier to try filters and strategies... to get a list of equity option.. evaluate them with our p&l calculator... and execute faster with our more intuitive trade ticket. i'm greg stevens and i helped create fidelity's options platform. it's one more innovative reason serious investors

are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account. >> we are just about 30 seconds away from the opening bell. futures are kind of mixed a little up, a little down and by the way, gold is down 12 bucks. 1,666 number that it seems to be hover at when it goes up and down and weighing on the futures are the new unemployment figures, seasonally adjusted 366,000 new initial jobless claims, as we hear the opening bell. that is actually a fall of 5,000 numbers, but two weeks ago, the numbers revised up, and these numbers might be revised up and 366,000 initial claims are still very high for an economy that's trying to get back on its feet

and as we see stocks are trading a little bit lower, by the way, other news that we got in addition to the unemployment numbers, initial jobless claims were that productivity has gone down about 2% in the fourth quarter, despite the fact that more people are actually working that were expected, the actual number of products that they are producing is down 2 %. so that might affect the numbers as well. as we see a market that's trading modestly lower. we talk about housing being a bright spot in in market and here is perhaps another side of that. home depot is hiring 80,000 seasonal workers for spring. that's 10,000 more than they had last year, so, nicole, where did home depot open today? >> yeah, well, i'm taking a look at this dow component here and the truth is i'm not getting the right read on this particular board, maybe it's the way they blew it up. i'll show it to you, is it open yet? you tell us. why don't you tell me?

this board doesn't seem-- there we go, an up tick and now lower. right around the unchanged line now for home depot, as you noted they are going to be hiring 80,000 temporary workers, that's up 10,000 from a year ago and it's the seasonal time, cashiers, loaders, the garden center, stock boys, you know it. they'll need all of these things because that's the time and the season where they hire these temporary workers and lowe's doing the same thing as well. david: not affecting the stock that much. let's move over to apple, we have the einhorn statement advising they should spend some 150 billion dollars in cash. how is that affecting the stock. >> right, so, apple is looking higher this morning at around 460, so that's looking good there. we're watching that with a pop. this is the $435 stock and einhorn is long on apple and wants to do a lot more with the cash and he's very well-known this morning that those are his feelings. >> right, right, everybody knows

it was a short seller, but does have long positions as well. nicole back to you in a second. and boeing, while the rest of the fleet remains grounded the f.a.a. is allowing a one time only ferry flight of one of the 787 dreamliners, back to its factory in washington state. and this is separate from the conducting a series of test flights to figure out what caused two separate problems with batteries including a fire. out at 11 a.m. today. that's about an hour and a half from now. the n.t.s.b. is holding a news conference for an update on its investigation. don't want to miss that and here, by the way, is a look at what boeing shares are doing right now. as you can see, they're ticking up and that may change one way or the other depending on the press conference, about an hour and a half from now. now, you're still paying more at the gas pump. the national average price of regular gas is up almost a penny overnight to $3.55. just in the past week, the price

of gas has spiked 13 cents and take a look at oil right now. as we saw a drop by the way in gold price, we're also seeing, well, this is a one week, 13 cents up. we're actually seeing it tick upwards in the price of oil about 38 cents and again, everything can change in the next couple of hours. well, we knew that implementing obamacare would be expensive and new numbers showing just how much it's going to cost. listen to this, it's going to cost 127 million man hours a year to implement all of the obamacare rules and regulations and there are a lot more coming on that number. on top of that, backlash now from supermarket owners because the fda is pushing a rule in obamacare that would require them to provide nutrition information at delis and bakeries, now, owners say it would cost them at least a billion dollars a year to make the changes, carol roth is with us and cheryl casone as well.

carol, when he does it end? are we ever going to see the cost of obamacare? >> i certainly hope we are. and the thing that concerns me the most about this the undue burden on the small businesses of this country and small businesses don't have the manpower or the dollars to comply with something like this and it's absolutely outrageous to me. if you go to a supermarket, you certainly know that macaroni and cheese is more fattening than celery. that's not what is making everybody fat is the lack of that nationaling, it's the tactffac tactf tactffac tactffac tactffac fact-- that knowledge, they're not exercising, we need to take responsibility in this country and don't need to be legislated. it's going to create less competition and barrier to innovation in business. david: i'm wondering if the federal government is pushing too hard. president obama feels that with his reelection, he was allowed certain, certain liberties as far as how he could push, how far he could push, but the election was not an endorsement

of a nanny state, was it? >> david, this is because no one read the bill which they have a problem doing. >> let's pass a bill we did not read and the same with the health care law there was a fight over it. the problem, she was talking about, you know, the small mom and pop businesses who need to watch the sector of grocery chains. your safe way, even the costco because they had big profit margins attached to that, you know, prepared food that you buy and you walk in and i want some salmon and green beans and they throw it into tins for you and profitable line of business. and they're going to get hit as well. >> mou how do they he deal with it. pass those costs onto the customers and-- >> absolutely. it's a huge challenge because you have to remember they also have to contend with now paying all of their workers the extra health care costs, too, so it's going to be very difficult, especially when the consumers have lighter paychecks to be able to pass that on to

consumers, grocery stores work on extremely thin margins. >> sure do. >> and this is going to be a huge problem and there's really nowhere for this money to go. >> there's no where for the cost to end at all, either. let's move onto it a different subject. bruce willis says he's against the new gun control laws and says there's no link between hollywood blockbusters and gun violence, now, willis gave his opinions on his presser for the new movie entitled "a good day to die-hard." this is number five in the "die-hard" franchise. not too unexpected we've heard him speak out against gun control before. >> yippy ky yea for bruce willis, i'm all for solutions, but creating legislation that doesn't solve the problem and creates her problems. one of the things that bruce willis says, you cannot legislate insanity and that's true. this is a much deeper problem when it comes to the mass shootings and pulling one type

of weapon off the streets is not a solution to the problem. >> and one of the things, first off i'm so sick of the hollywood actors coming out and telling me how i should vote and if i should have a gun or not. and what i should be doing in my personal life. you're an actor, act, entertain me and go away with your opinions. and operate other side of this, i agree with carol, there's going to be a dialog and we know the dialog is coming, but he needs to look closely at hollywood itself. video games and hollywood themselves. they need to step up and take more of a blame for this. and now he's coming out and saying, gun control. >> they're not going to change. >> wait a second. >>, but carol, don't you think they really need to reevaluate how they-- >> quickly, carol. >> entertain us, if you will. >> cowboys and indian movies were around when my dad was a little boy and lots and lots of violent war movies and they certainly didn't have the problems and i think it's deeper than that. >> let's go back to the stock market and come back with the ladies in a second. piper jaffray downgrading

dreamworks animation after the film maker says it will delay release of one of the films, nicole, how are the shares reacting to this. >> we're seeing the shares to the down side here, to the upside now, okay. up 1% for dreamworks, as we noted they don't want to be too ambitious, they don't want to release three films in 2013, so, they're going to be pushing some back and they're laying off some of the workers, they had weaker than expected performance on rise of the guardians, i saw and i love rise of the guardians and that's just me. this is what we're seeing here and down grades from piper jaffray. >> i didn't even hear of rise of the guardians, shows how out of it i am. thanks, nicole. well, american airlines and u.s. airways are closer to a deal that would create the world's biggest airline, so, nicole, what's u.s. airways doing as a result of this? >> well, for the most part we're seeing the trance parsports and mergers and acquisitions happening. and it's obviously a big move

here. >> quickly, charlie. >> one comment and a lot of reporting about the merger, we'll be talking about this. i think the pilots union has a bigger piece in this it's not a done deal, guys. >> cheryl knows airlines from the inside literally. thank you very much. now, it's time for your seven early movers, weak outlook from green mountain coffee roasted, better than expected profits at education company devry. and over 7%, internet services company akamai slowly reporting revenue growth, good news on big time up about 18% and surprise fourth quarter profit from insurance giant allstate. could we get a look at that, allstate is up about 2 1/4%. better than expected profit in real estate brokage. cbre trading up about 10% now and robot maker, cautious first

quarter guidance. and that affected the stock big time over 7% and better than expected profits in auto parts, retailer o'reilly automotive, that stock jumping over 10%. does george lucas know something that we don't? why is george lucas filing paper work that would allow him to sell his shares in disney? 2 billion dollars worth of shares? we're going to be asking our stock guy coming next. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everi'm with scottrade. me.

(announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. more "likes." more tweets. so, beginning today, my son brock and his whole team will be our new senior social media strategists. any questions? since we make radiator valves wouldn't it be better if we just let fedex help us to expand to new markets? hmm gotta admit that's better than a few "likes." i don't have the door code. who's that? he won a contest online to be ceo for the day.

how am i supposed to run a business here without an office?! [ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. fedex.

[ male announcer ] fast, reliable deliveries worldwide. we replaced people with a machine.r, what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello? ally bank. your money needs an ally. >> well, take a look at this house, it is a three bedroom two bath in phoenix, 1400 square feet, sounds like a lot for manhattan. foreclosure sold three months ago $78,000.

can you guess what it's selling for now? here is a hint, the price has gone up. that's just one home in one market that we're going to be focusing on tomorrow on a special real estate edition of "varney & company," we're calling housing one of the bright spots in our economy and guests throughout the hour talking about real estate, including somebody who is bearish on real estate. so we'll have a debate and we start at 9:15 eastern time tomorrow. let's take a look at the big board. all of the stocks are down, a although not rightly so, nasdaq is down percentage-wise and s&p is down, too. a regulatory filing revealing george lucas cashed out the stock that he received when selling lucas films and according to a spokesperson he does not currently have any plans to sell. joining the company from los angeles is gil morales with the

virtue of selfish investing. what does lucas know that other disney investors don't? >> i don't think he knows anything. george lucas is a master story teller and his genius lies in being able to bring his stories to the silver screen, as an investor i doubt if he has any expertise whatsoever and i think, it makes sense when you get 2 billion dollars in stock you should file to start selling and of course he's not dumping it at once he's intending to sell it over time and who knows how long it will take. so i don't think you can take anything away from his selling it in terms of it means something for the stock. i think the company showed decent growth in terms of sales up 5% and which is an increase over 4% the last quarter. earnings growth up 0% and essentially flat, but next quarter we're looking at 30% earnings growth for disney, a steady company, a quality company and the stock looks okay even on the pullback. >> what are-- let me just ask, what are disney insiders doing?

are they following lucas' lead or holding on? >> no, i don't see any pattern in terms of what the insiders are doing, but i would say that when you see insider selling, insiders sell for a variety of reasons. they might need the money or diversify the assets so the motives for selling are not always so clear. i'm more interested when i see insiders buying heavily and the stock perhaps is turning off the low or something like that, but i don't think you can tell much from selling by insiders that the stock has been moving higher it's not that meaningful. >> let's talk about possible bargains and yesterday we saw the pop in social networking from facebook to groupon, lin d linkedin. >> we like the say it's tactful acted lately and going into earnings this afternoon we intend to hold our position into the announcement and the way we're looking at linked in, 58% earnings growth on 19 cents a share and the most recent

quarter and i think you'll see that stocks probably surprise to the upside. what catches our interest here, we're seeing large institutional investors, mutual funds we consider to be smart moving into the stock in force and over the last year, we've seen the number of mutual funds owning linked in double and that's including the recent quarter and there's a good trend there and looking for a good earnings announcement. >> even though i'm annoyed when i get that you want to be joining-- and i delete those e-mails. >> well, you have a job, david, you don't need it. david: good to see you. >> and denied the request. david: i'm sorry, cheryl. >> i'm giving up, that's it. david: time for your morning gold report. let's take a look and early on, we did see gold drop, it's continuing that drop, it's down $11.20. and actually down to $1,666, i do remember that 666 number.

it's up a dollar from there, but it's still solidly down on this particular day. well, hollywood continues to back president obama, wait until you hear why chris rock says we should listen to the president when it comes to gun control. that's next and this song will give you a little hint. ♪ ♪ put your hand in mine, i will be your father figure ♪ ♪ i will be the one who loves you till the end of time ♪

>> comedian chris rock backing the president on gun control. rock joined others urging lawmakers to act quickly and listen to how he put it. >> the president of the united states is, you know, our boss, but he's also, you know, the president and the first lady are kind ever like the mom and the dad of the country. and when your dad says something you listen. david: dad? cheryl, your reaction. >> i'm trying to get over the fact that elijah cummings, congressman cummings with a

smirk on his face. and again back to actors telling hee how to vote or whatever. look, you know, hollywood has been a big backer of this president, that's fine, not surprising. he's a comedian, trying to make a joke. i get it. david: i don't know if he was joking or not. they use today say the same thing about ronald reagan, conservatives said he's kind of like our dad, but he was in our 70's or something, and president obama doesn't fit the father figures. >> i don't think that the obamas would appreciate that, they're trying to stay young and healthy and fit and kids and-- >> the question is, is he our boss or are we his boss. that's the way it's supposed to be. and bobby jindal pushing for no taxes on the state level. and barack obama on the federal level.

who should we believe whether the polar bears are extinct. somebody who saw the bears with his own eyes and said they're fine or the people who brought us this ad. they're coming next. >> look closely, the polar bears' world is melting. climate change is causing their arctic hunting grounds to disappear, right from under their feet, pushing them to the brink of extinction. [ male announcer ] i've seen incredib things.

otherworldly things. but there are some things i've never seen before. this ge jet engine can understand 5,000 data samples per second. which is good for business. because planes use less fuel, spend less time on the ground and more time in the air. suddenly, faraway places don't seem so...far away. ♪

stuart: we have two great experiments and america right now. welcome to varney & company. i am david asman in for stuart today. pushing to reduce or eliminate state income tax. louisiana, north carolina, kansas, nebraska all trying to make it move in that direction. republicans are also picking their battles. a governor just did a 180 on obamacare. she chose to give in. same thing for ohio's governor.

he once lobbied the president for four fracking at a college basketball game. the great state tax revolt in the middle of it all. ♪ ♪ stuart: we are talking about the states and taxes and growth and chicago's fight with police over blackberry overtime. also saving the polar bears. with the company, sandra smith and elizabeth mcdonald. of course, nicole petallides at the new york stock exchange. you have smaller government at the state level and larger government at the federal level. liz: it is bad for the u.s. economy would it takes more manpower and brains to file the

return on your income than it does to earn it. that is what the states are showing. watch out for what california did. there is nothing more permanent than a temporary tax. if they do this experiment, but the sales tax into the code permanently for the state. there is a debate about pushing consumers to do online shopping. david: if you want less of something, tax it more. the reverse is true. we want more growth. we want more jobs. the governor of kansas has the same message. he is putting hard numbers on the table saying this would be the 23,000 jobs by 2020, $2 billion added tax revenue and we should hear more republican

governors going forward. they are really getting the message out there. david: bobby jindal may be pushing some of his fellow republicans. he is a little reticent about it. liz: the guys that are providing cover. it does provide cover for this other gentlemen to move. david: to your state of illinois and california which are going in the opposite direction. will this force them? sandra: they could lose a lot of companies and jobs. you have rdc in the front right in the city of chicago.

states will have to be competitive with each other. david: to the big boys now. we see a further drop off of the stocks. additionally, we saw the dow down pretty quickly. it is down about 45 points. and to nicole, retailers in the news today. macy's is a big winner. nicole: you see the up arrow. you also see bloomingdale's. let's talk about retail sales. a lot of these names did better. macy's is raising their numbers back to the original level. we solve macy's do well. you so cap do well.

costco, target, notorious secret. all doing better. david: on a day where the market is down, macy's is doing better overall. now a warning about the polar bear population. >> look closely. climate change is causing their arctic hunting grounds to disappear right from under their feet pushing them to the brink of distinction. david: it turns out that polar bears may be doing just fine. >> polar bears that there are more polar bears alive right now than there was 40 years ago. polar bear populations exploded. that is not to say that global warming is not real or polar bears will not have trouble with that going forward, but what is interesting to me is this is a

tearful peaceful under piece of information. bob deans joins us now from washington. a guy worried about the polar bears. he moved his family up there and found that the population is increasing, not decreasing. >> i love the subtitle. that is great. the reality is, president george w. bush listed polar bears for a good reason. polar bears need ice the way fish need water. it is their home. it is where they get their food. it is where they raise their families. it is literally their world. we need to stand up to the threat of climate change.

david: as we can see, they are standing up for themselves, literally. the evidence does not support your case that the population is diminishing. talking about the indians that live there, they are right, there are a hell of a lot more bears. how do you dispute the evidence of people who are actually on site? >> those are old numbers. in fact -- david: he was just there. >> that is the exact same population that we had with president bush decided that these polar bears or directed. mama bears are starving. the dangers we are looking at right now is that in 20 years, these mama bears will not be able to bear cub in that is when we will lose two thirds of our polar bear population.

david: fax have a reason. sometimes the reasons are more important than supposition. three years ago, the unofficial count in the northern part of canada, 1400. that number has jumped to 2100 from the latest survey. this is current. >> you have different situations in about five different regions. david: called on a second. doesn't that mean at least the ad you put out is misleading? you should have mentioned in some places that the population is growing there are 19 regions where we have polar bears. in five of them, populations are

declining. david: it is contradicting. >> know it is not. you are talking about the future. when you look at the future and you see we have lost a third of our arctic sea ice in a number of years, that is not our number, that is a pentagon number. [talking over each other] david: it is a complex subject. i think you deserve, you owe it to the viewers to give a more complete analysis when you talk about the polar bears. all of the numbers are not in. >> the numbers that are not in our where the ice is going in the future. david: and talking about the polar bears. the numbers are not in there. some people see the polar bear population growing.

bob, always a pleasure to see you. appreciate you coming in. we have news developing on apple. david einhorn urging apple to do more with its billions of dollars of cash on hand. the last i thought they had about $150 billion of cash. a lot about his overseas. people want to put that to work. we were expecting a big jump in apple. nicole: it traded as high as 463 and change. here it is at 458.70. still posting a gain. when david einhorn speaks, everybody begins to listen. he certainly has a lot to say for these companies and apple, obviously, is moving that went to the upside.

the dow is now down about 57-point and the nasdaq is down as well. thank you, nicole. a chicago police sergeant is suing the police for overtime. he says he is old for all of those calls and e-mails on his blackberry while he was off the clock. we have a traitor and farmer joining us from chicago. i am sure you were impressed with the paul harvey commercial. >> it was pretty touching. david: contrast that with this lawsuit by the chicago cop because he thinks he should be paid for blackberry use. >> i feel guilty looking at a

farmer because our markets are only open 24 hours five days a week. those guys never get a vacation. i guess you have to say, be careful what you wish for. you have to find a way to manage your time. david: i asked one of our best, chicago is so close to the farming community, you are an example of that. doesn't the ethics about that had about what farmers do, doesn't that resonate much more than perhaps being paid for working on a blog. on the weekends. >> absolutely it does. i have five guys complain about the fact that we are open 24 hours five days a week.

when you take a guy out to those fields and they look at you and they think, wait a minute, these guys never get a vacation. who milks the cows when they are not there. david: sandra, you are also from chicago. by the way, it is not just farmers. i should mention teachers and others as well. sandra: i love that commercial. my grandfather was a farmer as well. the facts in all of this show the police officer in this said that he felt compelled to work for free in order to possibly gain a promotion. the city has responded and said, we encourage the police officers to file for overtime if they are answering urgent calls or e-mails. this particular officer felt like he was responding to every phone call and e-mail.

david: doesn't this go against the old grey and zero what a police officer and firemen used to represent? john stossel is next. we all know where stuart stands on the issue. >> we are talking this week, a week, the first week of february, there is just as much clue as there was lastly, we are just not covering it. ♪ [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

all your imptant legal matters in just minutes. protect youramily... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. did you know not all fiber is the same? citrucel is different- it's the only fiber for regularity that won't cause excess gas. it's gentle and clinically proven to help restore and maintain regularity. look for citrucel today.

♪ david: it is time for the business free. boeing working on a fix to the 787 battery problem. we told you it is weeks away from completing the investigation into the dreamliner. we will hear and update from that agency and just about hour. american airlines and u.s. airways are getting closer to

reaching a deal. they are hashing out the deals. speaking of flying, travel may be a problem for some flying in or out of the northeast this weekend. preparing for a huge storm. 2 feet of the snow could hit new england. stuart did not by any of the flu hi. neither do i, by the way. let's hear what john stossel had to say.

♪

david: if you have been watching varney and company, you know stuart does not believe the hype about the flu. i happen to be in agreement. john stossel is here. >> i think the flu shot is a good thing. i wish i was fighting with stuart. he was just out of lunch. television hypes everything. look at the things we have hyped. david: i am again that because i got sick. >> it was not the real flu.

most were already sick people. david: they advertise. they advertise using a little bit of hysteria. we are a nation of hypochondriacs. you the all of those ads. you have it -- the flu shot is not included. let's talk about what you are talking about tonight. education in america is not doing what it is supposed to. >> school choice has created some exciting opportunities.

i have been to schools where kids are excited about learning. they want to go to school. you can go anywhere. different schools compete in the best teachers make $200,000 a year. some of the schools are lousy. the beauty of that is when they are lousy, they go away. the good ones grow, the battle and disappeared. parents have control over what their children learn. david: it does depend, however, on parents taking an active role. who is winning in the battle over more government control of

education or less government control less charter schools? >> it is a draw. there are more experiments. david: 9:00 p.m. tonight we want to watch stossel. great to see you. consumer confidence is down and unemployment is still high. your paychecks hit by a higher tax. week of that one hotel executive right after this. ♪ all stations come over to mission a for a final go.

this is for real this time. step seven point two one two. rify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.

but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelity's analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. all in one place. i'm meredith stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. now get 200 free trades when you open an account.

>> the president of the united states is, you know, our boss, but he is also the president and first lady are the mob and the dad of the country. when your dad said something, you listen. david: that was just chris rock. liz: what? what are you talking about? he is not my boss or my dad. he is my employee. he works on my nickel. david: it was the boss remarked

that bothered me the most. we are the boss. he is the servant. public service. time for our market check. it is worthy of a check right now. the dow is down triple digits. into the triple digits on the dow. the nasdaq is following suit. we are keeping a sharp eye on the market as it moves down. let's talk real estate. this is a three bedroom, two bath in phoenix. it was in a foreclosure. sold at auction for $78,000. that was three months ago. can you guess what it is selling at now?

just one home and nakwon market that we will be focusing on tomorrow in a special real estate edition on varney and company. where will people and companies can't? how about travel? joining us now is erik browning. i want to take issue with you. first, make your case. >> you know, our travel industry is critical to the economy. people want to travel. they like to go to hotels. they enjoy taking vacations with their family. you have to do face to face meetings. there will always be need for that. david: you have to do face to face. i am looking at all the taxes

that have gone up. capital gains tax almost double. dividends almost double. almost all of these new taxes demand sacrifice. if you have to choose between, perhaps firing an employee who has been with you for 40 years or traveling a little less, i think they would choose to travel a little less. >> i think that is certainly possible. what we find is our future bookings, they are up. david: are they bookings that could be canceled? >> some. absolutely 12 so that could change? >> it could change. in december, compare that to 2012 are also of.

we look at our business and revenue per available room. that allows us to make comparable comparisons from different sized property. david: do you have a failsafe position? are people providing some kind of backup plan providing deep discount? >> deep discounts are really tricky. it takes a while for us to recover. it takes us twice as long to recover on deep discounts.

we have to provide something great. we have a promotion that we are rolling out. you bring in a receipt up to $50 anywhere in the local area. >> your forecast sounds pretty rosy. congratulations if it does turn out that well. where are you most concerned right now? >> concerns that unemployment continues to be an issue, continues to rise. we saw what happened in the fourth quarter. we do maintain for a fairly good period of time. i think for 2013, we are in good position. the other thing that helps us is not much supply growth. david: one time i won a lottery.

i won tonight that the millennium. >> fantastic. david: in washington, d.c., it always comes down to catchphrases. americans vote with emotion that fact. dan henninger is coming next to talk about that. [ male announcer ] at his current pace, bob will retire when he's 153, which would be fine if bob were a vampire. but he's not. ♪ he's an architect with two kids and a mortgage. luckily, he found someone who gave him a fresh perspective on hisortfolio. and with some planning and effort, hopefully bob can retire at a more appropriate age.

it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade.

it's just common sense. we replaced people with a machine.r, what? customers didn't like it. so why do banks do it? hello? hello?! if your bank doesn't let you talk to a real person 24/7, you need an ally. hello?

ally bank. your money needs an ally. david: let's smile even though the market is down triple digits. housing stocks is leading it down. nicole: all down roughly two or 3%. we did get in our weekly unemployment numbers. americans are not doing great in that employment department. there are still worries. we have our latest gdp numbers. here is helpful that. barclays downgraded the sector.

david: these stocks have had huge run-up over the past six months. it is a little bit of a pullback from what they have gained over the past year. america is just one big pothole. so says ray lahood. he is calling for a long-term transportation bill that would provide money for new projects past 2014. remember, this is the same guy that told us to stop driving toyotas and that the dreamliner was perfectly safe to fly. take everything with a grain of salt. the current administration is legislating based on emotion. joining us now is dan henninger from the "wall street journal." gun control and taxes, or tax

increases, i should say. we had the assault weapon ban for three years. gun violence has gone down after it ended in 2004. tax rates, even the president said about a year and a half ago that when the economy is sliding, the last thing in the world you want to do is raise tax rates. that is what he is doing. >> let's talk about gun control. the president was in minnesota on monday. if we could just save one life, we have to try. in other words, we have to try to pass an anonymous national law to save one life? we had an assault weapons ban from 1994-2004. the national research council

did an enormous study in 2004 and came to the conclusion that there was no way to know if any of this work. barack obama seems undeterred by the idea of passing enormously colossal balls david: you just want an election -- he has won reelection based on a motion. not based on facts and numbers. >> he is opposing his emotions, translating his emotions into laws like obamacare or dodd-frank that are so big, so complex, there are parts that no one understands or read. he said this law is going to

provide "certainty for everybody." it has provided uncertainty for everyone. the volker rule does not exist yet. david: what this means is lawmakers will have to spend a long time tweaking bills. there was nobody thinks about obamacare that were buried that we will have to spend years. liz: what about today is what you said about the capitol building itself. it is shaped like a bubble. that is what i thought was funny. d.c. doesn't live in a bubble land. >> they take these ideas and all

this emotion that these bills. they spread it across a country of 313 million people living in 50 different states on a brand math. david: whether it works or does not work it does not matter. they just want to pass it in their big capital bubble. >> people are talking about lives now. this is the way they live their own life. david: again, the facts have a tendency to catch up with you. when they do, who knows what then. the muslim brotherhood gained control in egypt. what does the obama administration do?

it gives them advanced fighter jets. we have a former navy seal after the break. he is not very happy about what is going on with your tax dollars. ♪

♪ david: the market is down triple digits and gas prices across the country keep on rising. the national average jumped another penny overnight to

$3.55. gas has spiked almost a quarter in just the past month. oil is up about $0.31. $96.31 a barrel. home depot is hiring 80,000 workers for the spring season. shares were home depot are down a little bit. keeping an eye on the housing front. what we call a bright spot in the economy. freddie mac shows the same rate as last week. still very low. let's check the big board again. we are holding onto triple digit losses on the dow. housing stocks leading us lower today. ♪ i love making money. i try to be smart with my investments. i also try to keep my costs down. what's your plan? ishares. low cost and tax efficient. find out why nine out of ten large professional investors choose ishares for their etfs.

ishares by blackrock. call 1-800-ishares for a prospectus which includes investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses. read and consider it carefully before investing. risk includes possible loss of principal.

david: you are happy for the guy, but happy it was not for you. and amateur baseball club attached $92,000 at an auction. not a bad profit. we are looking at a dow that is down 122 points. let's look at one stock in particular. let's take a look at yelp. nicole: they came out with their quarterly report.

revenue was stronger than expected, earnings per share came in a little light. they talked about strong revenue growth. it is down 6.6%. they do the listing on websites. dramatic selloff. as far as the baseball picture that you just showed, the guy got it at a yard sale, did he go back and give the people a little something? david: i would hope that he would give them a little piece of something. thank you, nicole. the dow is down 121 points. the u.s. government is set to send a huge foreign aid package to egypt. the muslim brotherhood is in control. captain larry bailey is with us. he is a retired navy seal.

larry, i have to tell you, when i heard we are selling f-16s to a country that just welcomed with open arms a guide who said he wants to destroy israel, obviously what will they use those f-16s for? >> they are not going to need them on their western frontier, they will only be looking east and flying east. david: even if it was not for the f-16s, the government of egypt is run by the muslim brotherhood. they are taking over. they are interested in power. we are giving them military hardware. we are cutting our own military and supplying the muslim brotherhood with weapons. how does that make you feel?

>> it does not make me feel good. the same f-16s were going to be sold to the israelis, but the obama administration canceled them. we would not sell them to them. rather we sold them some upgrades to their current stock of f-16s. there is no question that obama and his administration have tilted incredibly towards egypt. david: why tilted towards the muslim brotherhood? they are already there. the muslim brotherhood now controls the government of egypt. why do you think this is happening? >> i think obama tilts towards the islamic shot at the table. he has his own reasons for doing

that. i think in his ambition to level the playing field, he thinks we have to be a little bit more sensitive to islamic needs that we are to jewish needs or even our own christian needs. david: what you think about the people who oppose what is happening? why are they not more vocal about it? >> i just read this morning a report from rush limbaugh. this country is just going down. where are the people who are fighting with the obama administration is doing? i am doing what i can as one person. david: larry. thank you.

thank you for your service. i appreciate you coming on. >> you bet. david: mainstream media has been ignoring a major issue. bob menendez. what exactly are they ignoring? we will tell you and whether or not they can much longer. that is next.

lou: he is a legendary investor, author, local guru. jim rogers is my guest tonight. that is tonight at 7:00 p.m. eastern. ♪ david: senator menendez continues to make headlines. now doing so for the first time in the mainstream media. a friend of donor of the senator is is accused of overfilling the company. menendez supposedly intervened on his behalf. now the washington post is reporting the whole thing on the first page. liz: if it is true, the congressman has been opposed to reform of it and now he is intervening to help to get more money. the "new york times" even reported that he apparently

helped this man continue to get his money out of the u.s. government. david: the washington post is also saying getting into the prostitution story about whether or not and then there's -- >> he stepped in and said i do believe these allegations to be false. david: they have reported it for the past week without mentioning once the prostitution angle. >> it isn't just a good story. david: could you imagine if it was republican? ladies, thank you very much. the highlight reel is next. ♪ [ woman ] if you have the audacity to believe

your financial advisor should focus on your long-term goals, not their shorterm agenda. [ male announcer ] join the nearly 7 million investors who think like you do. face time and think time make a difference. at edward jones, it's how we make sense of investing. all your imptant legal matters in just minutes. protect youramily... and launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. and launch your dreams. all stations come over to mithis is for real this time. step seven point two one two. rify and lock. command is locked. five seconds. three, two, one. standing by for capture. the most innovative software on the planet... dragon is captured. is connecting today's leading companies to places beyond it. siemens. answers.